A Chinese Ghost Story
Directed by	Ching Siu-tung
Produced by	Tsui Hark
Written by	Pu Songling (novel) Yun Kai-chi
Starring	Leslie Cheung Joey Wong Wu Ma
Music by	Romeo Díaz James Wong
Editing by	David Wu
Distributed by	Hong Kong Legends
Release date(s)	March 23, 1987
Running time	98min.
Country	Hong Kong
Language	Cantonese
Budget	$5,600,000 (estimated)
Followed by	A Chinese Ghost Story Part II
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

A Chinese Ghost Story (Chinese: 倩女幽魂; pinyin: qiànnǚ yōuhún; Wade-Giles: Ch'ien-nü Yu-hun, literal meaning: "The Ethereal Spirit of a Beauty") is a 1987 Hong Kong movie starring Leslie Cheung, Joey Wong and Wu Ma, directed by Ching Siu-tung and produced by Tsui Hark. Image File history File links Chineseghoststory. ... Ching Siu-tung (a. ... Tsui Hark (Chinese: 徐克; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Hsü Ko) (born Tsui Man-kong (徐文光) on February 15, 1950) is a New Wave film director in Hong Kong who is also a highly influential producer, often likened to Steven Spielberg for a similar galvanizing effect on his countrys cinematic scene. ... Pu Songling (Chinese: 蒲松齡; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Pu Sung-ling) (5 June 1640 - 25 February 1715) was an ethnic Mongol Chinese writer. ... Leslie Cheung Kwok-Wing (September 12, 1956 – April 1, 2003) (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Cantonese IPA: , Jyutping: zoeng1 gwok3 wing4; Mandarin Pinyin: Zhāng Guóróng, Wade-Giles: Chang Kuo-jung; nickname Gor-gor (哥哥, Elder Brother in Cantonese), was an actor and musician from Hong Kong. ... Joey Wong (王祖賢 b. ... Wu Ma (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; real name: 冯宏源; 馮宏源; Féng Hóngyuán; born: August 18, 1942, in Tianjin, China) is a Chinese actor, director, assistant director, producer and writer. ... Wong Jim, James Wong Jim M.Phil. ... Congressman David Wu David Wu (Traditional Chinese: 吳振偉; pinyin: Wú ZhènwÄ›i; born April 8, 1955) is a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Oregon, representing the states 1st Congressional District (map). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Hong_Kong_1959. ... This article is about all of the Cantonese (Yue) dialects. ... A Chinese Ghost Story Part II (倩女幽魂 II：人間道) is a 1990 Hong Kong movie, the sequel to A Chinese Ghost Story. ... Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... Wade-Giles, sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a Romanization (phonetic notation and transliteration) system for the Chinese language based on Mandarin. ... Year 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar). ... This article is about the cinema of Mainland China. ... Leslie Cheung Kwok-Wing (September 12, 1956 – April 1, 2003) (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Cantonese IPA: , Jyutping: zoeng1 gwok3 wing4; Mandarin Pinyin: Zhāng Guóróng, Wade-Giles: Chang Kuo-jung; nickname Gor-gor (哥哥, Elder Brother in Cantonese), was an actor and musician from Hong Kong. ... Joey Wong (王祖賢 b. ... Wu Ma (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; real name: 冯宏源; 馮宏源; Féng Hóngyuán; born: August 18, 1942, in Tianjin, China) is a Chinese actor, director, assistant director, producer and writer. ... Ching Siu-tung (a. ... Tsui Hark (Chinese: 徐克; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Hsü Ko) (born Tsui Man-kong (徐文光) on February 15, 1950) is a New Wave film director in Hong Kong who is also a highly influential producer, often likened to Steven Spielberg for a similar galvanizing effect on his countrys cinematic scene. ...

Background

The story was loosely based on a short story in the Qing Dynasty literature Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio from writer Pu Songling. The movie was immensely popular in Hong Kong and several Asian countries, including South Korea and Japan when released. Most notably it boosted the stardom of Joey Wong, won Leslie Cheung the huge popularity in Japan, and sparked a trend of folklore ghost films in the HK film industry. The film grossed $18,831,638 HKD in Hong Kong^[1]. This article is in need of attention. ... Flag (1890-1912) Anthem Gong Jinou (1911) Territory of Qing China in 1892 Capital Shengjing (1636-1644) Beijing (1644-1912) Language(s) Chinese Manchu Mongolian Government Monarchy Emperor  - 1636-1643 Huang Taiji  - 1908-1912 Xuantong Emperor Prime Minister  - 1911 Yikuang  - 1911-1912 Yuan Shikai History  - Establishment of the Late... Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio or Liaozhai Zhiyi (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio or Strange Tales of Liaozhai) is a collection of nearly five hundred mostly supernatural tales written by Pu Songling during the early Qing Dynasty. ... Pu Songling (Chinese: 蒲松齡; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Pu Sung-ling) (5 June 1640 - 25 February 1715) was an ethnic Mongol Chinese writer. ... Joey Wong (王祖賢 b. ... Leslie Cheung Kwok-Wing (September 12, 1956 – April 1, 2003) (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Cantonese IPA: , Jyutping: zoeng1 gwok3 wing4; Mandarin Pinyin: Zhāng Guóróng, Wade-Giles: Chang Kuo-jung; nickname Gor-gor (哥哥, Elder Brother in Cantonese), was an actor and musician from Hong Kong. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The cinema of Hong Kong is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China, and the cinema of Taiwan. ...

Plot summary

Ning (Leslie Cheung) is a timid tax collector whose work requires him to travel to rural areas. At a town, the local townsmen are unwilling to pay their taxes. They force Ning into seeking shelter at an abandoned forest temple, claiming that their inns are full. Unbeknownst to Ning, many men have stayed there before, never to return again.

At the forest outside the temple, Ning is caught up in a duel between two master swordsmen. The winner of the duel, the Taoist martial priest Master Yan (Wu Ma), warns him there are ghosts in the temple. When he hears of Ning's firm intention to stay "for a night", he leaves, making it clear that he would take no responsibility for Ning's fate. Taoism (Daoism) is the English name referring to a variety of related Chinese philosophical and religious traditions and concepts. ...

Entering the temple, Ning finds that his surroundings are bathed in an eerie mist as he catches the eye of Nie (Joey Wong), an alluringly beautiful girl. He resists her advances when she attempts to seduce him, and Nie falls in love with him. Ning, however, is unaware that she is a spirit, subservient to a powerful and asexual/androgynous Tree Demon.

Having finished rewriting his ledgers in an eventful night, Ning trudges back to town, shocking the townsmen into paying their taxes. Whilst he is in town, he witnesses a funeral parade pass by the main street. Becoming increasingly fearful and superstitious on recalling the night's events, Ning decides to have a spirit-repelling spell written on his back in ink. He goes back to the temple that night and confirms his theory Nie is no human being.

Nie then tells him her story of her family's unfortunate death at the hands of robbers, and how the urn containing her ashes was buried at the foot of a large tree, unwittingly binding her to the servitude of a powerful tree demon. She explains that as long as her urn remains buried there, her spirit is bound to the tree demon. Ning then tells her he will endeavour to free her soul somehow.

As he is no ghostbuster, Ning searches out Master Yan to enlist his martial and spiritual prowess in his mission. Yan fights a battle with the Tree Spirit through the night to salvage Nie's spirit. As morning breaks the next day, Ning and Master Yan ride to the site of the large tree at the base of which Nie's urn is buried. Ning digs up the soils only to find not one but several small urns in the same place.

Later, at a sanctified temple, Ning tries to find out which urn Nie is in; he evokes all the spirit in each urn save Nie's. Master Yan tells him her soul had been taken to the Underworld to be punished as according to the laws of ghosts; by betraying her master, she is sentenced to pain and suffering for eternity. Ning is disbelieving; and in an impressive show of his spiritual skill, Yan opens a temporary portal to the Underworld.

Ning and Yan follow the column of marching ghost soldiers until they reach a desolate structure filled with the writhing bodies of suffering spirits, clinging, grasping, and groaning in a cacophony of pain and anguish. Ning is horrified by it; and even Yan himself is shaken by it, but he tells Ning that with all probability, Nie would be somewhere in the mass of suffering spirits. Just before a host of underworld army headed by the Demon attack them, Yan quickly pulls them out of the Underworld.

Remarkably, Ning stumbles across a brief solution to allow him to see Nie briefly. He opens a small window, allowing a sliver or two of sunlight to weakly shine through onto a table. Placing Nie's urn onto where the sunlight shines, he is finally able to contact her as she is brought out of the darkness into the light - briefly disconnecting her from the Underworld. Although she speaks in a small, weak voice as evidence of her suffering, she tells him that a possible way for him to redeem her spirit is by re-burying it in a more auspicious burial site, as well as constantly burning incense for her. Ning follows her instructions, and after being shown a good place by Yan, he buries her near the crest of a hill. The film then ends with showing him burning a joss stick for her at the same place whilst praying, with Yan standing stoically yet solemnly behind him. Incense is composed of aromatic organic materials. ... This page is a candidate to be copied to Wiktionary. ...

Cast and roles

• Leslie Cheung - Ning Cai Chen
• Joey Wong - Ye Xiao Qian
• Wu Ma - Yan Chi Xia
• Hu Dawei
• Jiang Jin
• Lam Wai - Hsia-hou
• Lau Siu-Ming - Tree Devil (Lao Lao)
• Elvis Tsui
• Wong Jing -
• Xue Zhilun - Ching

Leslie Cheung Kwok-Wing (September 12, 1956 – April 1, 2003) (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Cantonese IPA: , Jyutping: zoeng1 gwok3 wing4; Mandarin Pinyin: Zhāng Guóróng, Wade-Giles: Chang Kuo-jung; nickname Gor-gor (哥哥, Elder Brother in Cantonese), was an actor and musician from Hong Kong. ... Joey Wong (王祖賢 b. ... Wu Ma (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; real name: 冯宏源; 馮宏源; Féng Hóngyuán; born: August 18, 1942, in Tianjin, China) is a Chinese actor, director, assistant director, producer and writer. ... Jiang Jin (born 17 October 1968 in Tianjin) is a coach and a former Chinese football goalkeeper. ... Wong Jing (Chinese: 王晶) (born January 1, 1956) is a Hong Kong film director, producer and screenwriter. ...

Adaptations

A Chinese Ghost Story Part II (倩女幽魂 II：人間道) is a 1990 Hong Kong movie, the sequel to A Chinese Ghost Story. ... A Chinese Ghost Story III (Sinnui Yauwan III: Do Do Do) is a 1991 Hong Kong comedy horror romance film produced by Tsui Hark and directed by Ching Siu-Tung. ... This page is about the development of animation and comic industry in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. ...

Influences

• American director Sam Raimi has borrowed scenes and ideas from A Chinese Ghost Story for use in at least one of the Evil Dead movies and in certain episodes of the television series Xena^[2][3][4].

For the American opera singer, see Samuel Ramey. ... -1... Xena. ...

Trivia

• The ghost, Nie, plays a qin and she breaks a string (a common metaphor for a troubled heart or being surprised) when the man Ning steps into the pavilion.

This article is becoming very long. ...

References

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ... is the 23rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ... is the 23rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ... is the 23rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ... is the 23rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Film review at The Illuminated Lantern
• lovehkfilm entry
• Joey Wang fan site

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